Mimiko blasts Obasanjo

Over alleged statement to capture Ondo, Lagos in 2011ONDO State government weekend criticized the former President Olusegun Obasanjo over his statement that the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, should capture the state and Lagos in the 2011 elections.

Governor Olusegun Mimiko while reacting to the statement said the former President â€œwas not only an affront to the people of the state but one unbecoming of an elder statesman.”

Chief Obasanjo was quoted in Osogbo, Osun State as saying that the leadership of the PDP in the South-West should work hard so as to capture Ondo and Lagos states in the 2011 elections.

Statement, a spiteful remark

But Mimiko in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr Kolawole Olabisi expressed dismay at the directives of the former President, saying that it was a spiteful remark that depicts the people of the state as animals capable of being captured.

He noted that the people of the state have resolved that never again would rigging, coercion and snatching of ballot materials at gun-point be allowed to hold sway as was the case in the 2007 elections.

â€œWe view with utter shock the remarks credited to Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and we are aware of the import of such remarks given events in the recent past.

â€œThe remark is not only uncharitable but unbecoming of an elder statesman as the good people of Ondo State are not animals that could be captured and caged at will as being insinuated by Chief Obasanjo. The whole world is aware of what transpired in the build up to the 2007 general elections and the subsequent rigging of that election by the PDP and the prayers of the people of Ondo State who stood by us for 22 months during which we sought the instrumentality of the judiciary to wrest our God-given mandate from the PDP.

Says we’ll guard against rigging, ballot box snatching

â€œLet it be known to all and sundry that the principle of one man, one ballot will be the order of the day in Ondo State henceforth. The people are resolute that never again would snatching of ballot materials at gun points, coercion, intimidation and harassment of voters be the order of the day in subsequent elections.

â€œOur votes must count and never again will anybody rig election in our state. The best candidates must be allowed to be chosen irrespective of party affiliation.”

The statement therefore, called on all Nigerians and the whole world to be aware of another grand plot to unleash violence in the state and enjoined security agents to take up the issue with all the seriousness it deserves.

The governor called on the people of the State to be assured that the state government was committed to the continued peace that is being enjoyed in the state since the advent of the Labour Party-led administration.